Overcoming challenges – when the proverbial hits the fan

As I sit here, I am still recovering from a motorbike accident I had last weekend.

I had this accident on the bike in the picture – my brand new Honda CBR250R which I loved.

I have been riding motocross bikes for the last couple of years and have had a few lessons on the road. I decided to get my practice up in the dirt to get comfortable on a bike, and recently decided to buy a road bike, finish my lessons and take my test.

It was only my second time on the road on this bike practising with an experienced rider, and I crashed – hit the curb, flipped my bike, landed on my head and back and knocked myself out for 10 minutes. Never had concussion before, it’s an interesting experience!

Yesterday I caught up with a great friend of mine Francesca, from Happy Go Happy Go Lucky, and we were discussing our recent vibrations and what they were attracting. It’s funny because I’ve been mega happy this year and loving everything that 2014 has to offer so far. Life is good. And I certainly wasn’t in a bad place last week to magnetise an accident towards me.

I’m putting this down to my inexperience on a bike. Now, I was very sore and emotional, a bit irritable, and was pretty gutted about totalling my bike. Being emotional is also another side effect of swelling on the brain.

However, there are a lot of positives out of this situation.

– I know exactly where I went wrong and now know what I need to practice more of, until I am so comfortable on my bike that it feels like an extension of myself

– not that I remember it as I have no memory for about 20 minutes that day, but apparently lots of lovely people stopped to see if I was ok

– I fully insured my bike and it is a write-off so I will get a brand new bike

The whole experience has reminded me of when I fell off my Auntie’s horse when I was quite young, and smashed my back on a pointed bit of wood. She made me get straight back on that horse, saying if I didn’t there and then I might never get back on. At the time, I thought she was a complete bitch, but was so grateful to her later.

I feel the same about my bike. Some people would be reeling after a crash and getting in a negative mindset about it. Admittedly the first few days I certainly didn’t feel positive about it, but my brain was swollen and foggy and I couldn’t think straight. Now I can think properly about it I liken it to falling off the horse. As soon as I am feeling no effects of concussion I will be booking in for some lessons to practice those reflex reactions of avoiding obstacles on the road. I can’t wait to get back on the bike, finish my lessons and take my test.

Riding motorbikes is something I always wanted to do, but I grew up in the UK and I would never have done it there due to the weather and traffic. Moving to Australia when I was 29 it was suddenly something I could really do. I find it really fun and love learning it as a new skill. Why would I give that up just because I made a mistake and KO’d myself? It just makes me want to get it right even more!

Life is always throwing obstacles in our way. How you deal with them greatly affects your life. How do you normally face obstacles?

– do you bury your head in the sand and hope it will go away?

– do you ignore what happened and carry on as normal?

– do you reflect on what has happened, what could have been done differently, how it could have been avoided?

– do you think about what can be learned from what happened so you can grow as a person from it?

– do you play the victim and do classic “poor me” behaviour to get attention?

– reframe the situation into the positive, just like I did above with my bike crash

– remember that struggles in life build our character and make us stronger, if you choose to let them make you stronger. Don’t give up!

– sit down and reflect on the following: what emotions am I experiencing and why? What is the need behind the emotions? What’s the one thing I can do right now to feel better?

– we create “stories” from our experiences. A lot of people love to gossip, love bad news, and love playing the victim. What if instead you focused on creating a different, positive “story” from your experience that you could share with others to inspire them?

– meditate, or sit in quiet contemplation. Clear your mind, and set your intention to discover what this challenge is here to teach you.

I would love to hear your comments below if you are facing a challenge or have done in the past that you are struggling with, would like clarification with, or anything else related this this topic!

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Carly Evans is the creator of Coach Carly and Phoenix Transformation. Carly has worked with people across the globe from all walks of life since 2006, helping them to realise and achieve their full potential through powerful transformational coaching processes using principles embedded in Universal Laws such as the Law of Attraction and Law of Manifestation. Carly is a contributing author in the bestselling Adventures in Manifesting Series in a book titled "Soulful Relationships".